There is still no school bus service for Jordan Springs Public School, and parent frustrations are growing.
President of the school’s P&C and mother to a child at the school, Kylie Thomas, wants just one thing: a dedicated school bus for the students to use.
The Department of Education (DOE) recently undertook a survey that indicated there was little demand for the bus service.
But Thomas believes this was flawed.
“It showed that there was on average 30 kids on a Tuesday and a Wednesday in a morning and 17-20 kids in the afternoons,” she said.
“However, I would suspect that it would significantly be more kids if we had a dedicated bus because parents are finding alternative arrangements because what we’ve got from a public perspective is not suitable.”
Thomas believes that there would be more children using the bus service if the parents knew it would be safe and reliable.
Currently, students have no choice but to use existing public bus services.
Thomas has shared her concerns with Education Minister and Member for Londonderry Prue Car and Penrith Mayor Todd Carney, who both said they escalated the matter to Transport Minister Jo Haylen.
“So, everyone seems to be escalating it to the Transport Minister, great!” Thomas said.
“But, I haven’t had any response from them, so I don’t know what the outcome is.”
In response to questions by the Weekender, a spokesperson for Haylen did not speak to the Jordan Springs services directly and blamed the previous government.
“We are dealing with the consequences of the former Liberal Government’s 12 years of neglect of our bus services,” she said.
“For the last 10 years, funding for bus service growth did not keep up with population growth across NSW or with school enrolments. The NSW Bus Industry Taskforce’s interim report, that was released earlier this year, made clear the extent of these issues and provided recommendations on ways to fix them.
“This can’t be done overnight. We are working through the report’s recommendations, identifying priority areas and seeking the funding to invest in more frequent and reliable bus services.”
Transport for NSW confirmed it was planning to perform an additional in-person count of school children using the existing 783 route buses “in coming days”.
It also confirmed a recent incident where the public bus service did not pick up passengers.
“Transport for NSW has requested the bus operator in the region to perform an in-person count of school children using the route 783 buses, which serves Jordan Springs Public School,” a spokesperson said.
“An initial count was conducted at the end of April and the beginning of May, with a second count scheduled for the upcoming days.
“There was one reported incident where a bus driver switched a service to set down only, believing the bus had reached its capacity. However, upon investigation, it was determined that the bus was not actually at full capacity, and the bus driver has since been counselled.
“Transport and the operator prioritise the safety of school children during their journeys to and from school – every effort is made to ensure that children are safely transported without any risk of being left behind.”
Emily Chate
Emily Chate joined The Western Weekender in 2024, and covers local news - primarily courts and politics. A graduate of the University of Wollongong, Emily has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and worked as a freelance journalist.